Translation culture: The Paul Zsolnay Verlag, 1924-1938

Translation is not only a transfer of words from one language to another. It is a socio-cultural process that shapes the exchange of ideas and the balance of power between countries, communities, and social groups. Understanding translation therefore requires looking at all the actors involved: translators, authors, editors, governments, and especially publishers. Publishers select what is translated, who translates it, when and under which conditions. Their choices influence which voices reach the public and how (trans-)cultural relations develop. In this sense, translation can become a form of soft power, quietly shaping societies and cultural diplomacy by promoting certain ideas instead of using force. This project examines the Jewish Viennese publishing house Paul Zsolnay Verlag between 1924 and 1938 to show how translation became a subtle tool of resistance against rising National Socialism. The company published translations from Yiddish until the mid- 1930s, employed Jewish translators who had lost their jobs as professors or journalists, and helped several escape persecutions in 1938. The study zooms from the broader context of Jewish difference and the publishing field in interwar Vienna (macro-level), to the companys translation policies (meso-level), and finally to the professional biographies of the publisher, the director, and sixteen translators (micro-level). These biographies, reconstructed from archival collections worldwide, highlight the often overlooked role of translators as active cultural actors, mediators between authors and publishers, and contributors not only to the development of the publishing house, but also to social movements, such as resistance to growing antisemitism or supporting marginalised groups.